Notable quotable -- On books and friends

At the Chicago Cultural Center, formerly the city library, which is home to the largest Tiffany ceiling in the US.

As should be readily evident based on my week or so of blogging, I love books. I own more books than anything else. We have four sets of bookshelves in our apartment that are as tall as me, plus another four that are about half as tall. And we're running out of room. I have spent more time over the course of my life reading than watching television (something I think should be true of more people, but sadly is not). I get really, really excited about books and bookstores and great libraries. My perfect job is reading and talking about books -- which explains why I've applied to a master's program in English (not all reading and talking, but a lot of it).

That said, something I don't have a lot of since coming to Chicago is friends. I'm not saying this to ask for anyone's sympathy -- it's just a matter of fact. I obviously don't meet new people at work, and I don't belong to any kind of organizations, so I've had a really hard time meeting people and progressing to the point of calling them up to see a movie or eat food or the like. I have to admit, I've never been terribly good at making friends. Sounds odd, maybe, given that I moved around my whole life, but makes sense when you consider I don't have a single friend who's known me since childhood. Again, not looking for sympathy here -- I'm just taking stock of my life momentarily. My closest friends as an adult are women I met in college and at my jobs -- all of whom currently live in the Virginia/North Carolina area.

The reason I bring this up in conjunction with books is that I've had a desire recently to join a book club. It seems like it would be a fun way to meet new people in a social setting and get to know them via discourse about a common read. I like to read, I like to talk, I like to socialize -- I draw the line at drinking coffee, but maybe nobody will notice if I have tea or hot chocolate instead. The only catch is, where does one find a book club? On television (I mean, I do watch some), women are always in book clubs with their neighbors. My neighbors are okay -- some are actually a little wierd -- but I can't fathom any or many of them wanting to join a book club, especially with other women they hardly know. I've been investigating this online, but so far the only book club I can find in Chicago near me is one that has 634 members. Now maybe I'm wrong, but it seems like it'd be hard to run a discussion with that many people. I'm tempted to put something up in the apartment building -- a general notice or something. Reactions? Ideas?